South Yorkshire pupil posted school secrets on Facebook

A ROTHERHAM pupil hacked into his school’s ‘secure’ database - and then posted his fellow students’ disciplinary records on Facebook for all to see.

Lewis Blessed, aged 15, was suspended from classes for nine days at St Pius X Catholic High School at Wath-on-Dearne after revealing confidential staff comments about children.

But his mum Andrea, 43, claims the school over-reacted - and that Lewis’s behaviour was ‘just a prank’.

The computer system was breached after Lewis memorised a teacher’s username which had flashed up when she was using an overhead projector. He then guessed the teacher’s password.

Andrea, a sales leader, said: “It gave him instant access to pupils’ date of births, addresses, disciplinary records, the lot.”

But she added: “He shouldn’t have been excluded from school. It was just a prank. He is hardly an expert computer hacker.

“I don’t know what he wants to do when he grows up, but hopefully it won’t be anything to do with IT.”

Security systems at the school have now been reviewed and updated.

Headteacher Tony Bishop was alerted to the problem by a parent whose daughter’s disciplinary record was posted on her Facebook wall.

He said: “The school takes any issues related to the protection of data and safeguarding children very seriously and responded immediately as soon as we were alerted to the fact that our system had been compromised.

“As soon as we were aware of an access breach we informed the police and the company who created our disciplinary records database. Further investigations identified the individual involved and the school reacted by suspending the student.”